"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
Wolfbane hoped that the silence stretching after Titus’ answer would lead to more, that the younger pegasus might weigh his options and choose to open himself up a little. They’d been flying for a good bit now, sinking lower from necessity as Bane could feel the hot ache of tiredness spreading between his shoulders, but the uncomfortable quiet following those last words - Nerine was his home - was an awkwardness belonging to Titus alone.
Up here in the sky with Brilliant Pampas far behind them, they became equals in the striped leader's mind. No one was watching them or expecting anything, the bulk of Loess members seemed to have settled into their second home well enough … Bane himself wasn’t expecting anything more to come of his question than what Titus had told him, so when his counterpart speaks up again the golden Pirate tilts his eyes down to focus.
What the younger horse tells him is interesting enough to hold his attention.
First, he knew the mare Titus was speaking about. Despayr had been consort to Arthas, the topic of their bawdy conversations many times when he and the old gray had gotten together for a training exercise. Arthas had often complained that his needs outweighed what any one female could give him, and seemed to grow more disappointed over the years as his multiple conquests gave birth to girls or didn’t give birth at all. He could fathom that Despayr’s steal might’ve been a useless effort to try and keep herself in Arthas’ good favors.
But she, along with every mare the dappled gray seemed to find in his travels, never managed to last long. Only Lepis and Rey had kept his mentor interested and both had outlived him, leaving questionable heirs in the wake of his death: Delta, Lothar, and of course Mary. “This may sound a bit harsh but whatever reason she had for doing it, I’m glad she did.” Wolfbane speaks up, keeping the conversation alive while matching Titus smile for smile. “I should be in Tephra now, following my father’s footsteps. Ran away though.” He chuckles, banking past redwood tops in order to coast lower.
Nerine stretched out before them, bitter and wild. “Loess had more to offer me, obviously, and now it’s in my power to offer you more.” The bulky pegasus grunts out, twisting his wings to flush them forwards and slow his descent, before clipping sharply into the ground at a trot. “You think before acting, you’ve turned your captivity into honor - I’d be an idiot not to promote you.” Wolfbane says, halting. Shaking out his neck and glancing over one shoulder, the drake asks “Will you think about taking on leadership, Titus? I want you as head of War or Peace, whichever one interests you the most.” Shifting sideways to make room for the other male.
He didn’t need an answer right away, considering the plague and upset of Kingdoms. Titus had some time to mull things over before they moved back to Loess, and Wolfbane certainly felt better about his relationship with the secretive, spotted horse.
Like all good nightmares do
@[Titus] moved the thread for obvious reasons; open to any diplomat or Nerine character!
one day it's here and then it's gone,
how are you still holding on?
There was a part of Titus that wished he had not speak a word about his past to the pirate lord. A childhood was something to look back upon with memories that held laughter and love, but he did not find that after being taken away from Nerine. He had been forced to grow up fast, not for himself, but for his twin-sister Venus. It was the reason he had accept to be kidnapped and not fighting the mare that had taken them to Loess. Titus would not have let his sister go, would have fought back if only he had been bigger and stronger, but he was only a child.
But he protected her in the end. They both had been together and grew up side by side despite not being in Nerine. All they needed was each other, and that was all that they had then. Now, Loess was everything he had needed. Even more than he thought it would have ever been.
Wolfbane speaks up and Titus flickers his ear in the direction of the gold and blue stripped leader. He isn’t sure what to expect from him. But his nutmeg eyes do not miss the matching smile of his own moments ago. His heart grows with warmth for just a moment, feeling a sense of pride at his leader’s words. It felt nice to hear someone be happy for the way his life and turned out while he did not. Maybe there was more for him then just dwelling in his own bitterness.
Titus laughs in response to the other stallion’s words. He follows his leader’s motion by descending to the tops of the redwood forest too. “I guess we were meant for greater things then,” he answers back. It sounded weird to say those words. He had always thought he would be living a life with his family in Nerine with the rest of his siblings, but when the offer came for him to come back home something within him could not accept it.
He turns his eyes forward, watching as the horizon reveals the stretched outland of Nerine. The muddy stallion keeps an ear in the direction of Wolfbane as he continues their conversation. It isn’t clear to him what Wolfbane is quite offering him yet, but something within him makes his muscles clench and his heart feel heavier. Anticipation.
Following behind Wolfbane, he lowers himself down onto the familiar outskirts of Nerine. He folds his wings in after landing and turns towards the drake. For the first time, to Titus, it feels as if someone is really looking at him. Someone noticing his efforts and giving a damn about him—not that his family didn’t, but someone entirely else, someone that Titus had gained respect for when he decided to become of something greater than himself.
“I don’t need to think about it, Wolfbane,” he already made the decision the instant the drake offered him something more. Something he never thought he could achieve or would ever be within his own reach. “I would be more than happy to serve you and Loess as Head of War.” Titus nods his head firmly, a boyish grin growing from ear to ear as he then steps forward to the room Wolfbane made for him.
Things were looking up finally for him. Even on the outskirts of his birth him he was dreading to see again, he felt at peace with where he was now.
son of rome and porcia male, classic champagne appaloosa ocelot-shifting, wings, immortality
The summer brought warmth to the northernmost kingdom, nearly mimicking the heat and humidity of Scorch's long forgotten Jungle. Of course, the lack of any dense forests fucked that image up rather quickly; but on the westernmost piece of Nerine, the pines reigned. Here was where the Amazon spent most of her time, able to easily watch who came and went through the bottleneck which connected the almost-island to the rest of the kingdom; and of course, the looming trees gave rise to comfortable feelings of nostalgia. When Brennen stayed with her, he brought music too; that of the Jungle's birds and cats, as he knew she liked the sounds.
He strayed more than she remembered the men she loved straying, however; and often she found herself awakening with only the crashing of waves to remind her of her loneliness.
Blue grew quickly these days, becoming increasingly independent as the year meandered through the months and thus the seasons. Soon enough her youngest child would be ready to face the world outside of her interference, which already was minimal in comparison to when a babe walks freshly at ones knees. The sensation of once again being alone left Scorch gutted and anxious, with far too much time for her to contemplate the exact moments in time when she'd managed to fuck up, and to fuck up again, and to fuck up again. The dead intervened when they could, sensing her worries and attempting to help the mare reconcile with the sins of her past; but they could not always be there for her, and so, she suffered.
What did she have left to tie her to this kingdom? What besides some children, a lover, and a queen whom she had practically hand raised? It felt like nothing, though she knew it to be everything. She wondered sometimes if the contagion which had spread had any mental symptoms that none were yet aware of; for although they lived in a plague-ridden land, she had yet to express any symptoms... And she doubted that that meant that she was free of its clawing fingers.
Appearing one afternoon from the depths of her westerly pine forest, Scorch made her way towards the border for no reason besides boredom. She longed for company, but felt as though she had no means of achieving some; so, when two specs appeared on the horizon and gradually became figures which landed astride her Nerinian soil, she smiled. She would recognize that yellow son-of-a-gun anywhere. As she approached, she thought pleasantly on the conversation they had once shared, meandering through Loess and at last to the warm pools where her skin received a well needed bath.
The other creature she did not recognize, though he had a familiar air about him; something about the small stature and the way his lips curled when he smiled spoke of other Nerinians, but not strongly enough for Scorch to draw any concrete associations. For now, the mare approached with a quiet call, coming alongside them after but a short time. Reaching, the ugly mare exchanged breath first with Wolfbane, and then with the stranger, a small smile touching her lips as her magmatic eyes scanned from one stallion to the other.
"Greetings, gentleman. Wolfbane, so good to see you again. What might I do for you today?"
Ever since crossing, Oisin has been so jubilant. Quite the opposite of the younger twin, who'd rather explore at a much slower pace. Sure, she wants to know things. She's noticed that Mama knows a lot of things, and perhaps that's what makes her more confident. Sheen just doesn't do anything in terms of recognizing danger, Eurwen thinks. But she loves her sister dearly and if it hadn't been for her and Seis, she would probably still be on the island.
Nevertheless, it's hard to avoid other horses in Nerine. Especially with a coat as brilliant white and pink as hers, golden mane gleaming in the sun. Some have fairly-familiar smells to them; Papa said she probably picked up traces of family, but she wasn't quite certain if they were closely or distantly related or just mingled with her family too often that perhaps she might think they were - all in all, she hadn't approached any one of them yet.
Which was probably why Leilan had seemed it fit to whisper into her ear that it would be safe to approach the most ugly bald mare she could find - she would be his mother, so her grandmother.
Fate would have it however, that the gold-and-spotted girl only found her when she was greeting someone else. Big men - no wait, maybe not as big as she'd feared, but it was hard to size them against her father if he wasn't standing nearby. But her grandmother, the one she'd isolated, was bigger than them, so perhaps Papa would think they were small. Unfortunately, for the little girl, still big enough to fear.
And fear she would, might have - but if she was completely honest she was also curious and had been waiting to isolate one family member for so long, that she silently, shyly approached. The spotted child went straight for the bald mare though, trying not to catch too much attention while she did, and then softly touched her upper hind leg with her nose and looked up to her with a near-helpless gaze. She needed to know if this was a safe place. "Grammama?" she asked, surely she would know her, right? Wouldn't she? She hoped to be able to hide from the big men visiting with her and wait it out, maybe she would get to know her better then.
lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose
Titus settled things, and he did it with every ounce of clarity and confidence Wolfbane had come to expect of him. Accepting the position wasn’t so much an honor as it was a duty, one that came with perks and boring necessities. If the spotted horse had refused him, Bane doubts he would’ve even been the slightest bit upset. Loess didn’t need uncertainty in her ranks - she needed commitment and pride, both of which Titus possessed in great measure. “Congrats then, my friend. You’ve more than earned the title.” His elder grins, leaning sideways in an attempt to shoulder the other pegasus.
Afterwards there’s a long stretch of silence, much less awkward than before in his opinion, and it comes to an abrupt end when the vision of a pinkish mare takes shape against the backdrop of Nerine’s costal horizon. If he didn’t know any better, Wolfbane would have to guess that Scorch looked rather eager to see him. A welcome change from his last visit here, when a casual conversation turned suddenly and ended bitterly. “Dosh Scorch, always a pleasure when you’re involved.” The striped male winked pleasantly, enjoying the use of her official title before the two exchanged a brief, warm touch of the nose.
“This is Titus, my Head of War -” He spoke after, turning to look upon the newly ranked acolyte with a fond expression of pride. The curve of his wicked mouth parts, fully intending to continue on with conversation, but a small filly appears out of the woodwork and soon comes to stand alongside the hairless mare. Her plea for attention rouses a charming, tender sort of smile that accentuates Bane’s full cheeks while softening his wild eyes. Fatherhood seems to have given him a new sort of patience.
“We won’t be staying for very long.” He promises easily, glancing up and around their chaperone. “Only stopped by to check on friends and family, nothing too serious or deadly.” The drake chuckles. His gaze darts sideways towards Titus again, curious to see if the ruddy appaloosa would speak up. This little side-quest had kind of been his idea to begin with, but if he chose not to prod at old wounds then Bane would keep his mouth shut and blunder through a bit of small talk. No harm, no foul.
Despite the sweltering heat the summer hours usually brought into the day, many of the forest animals were out and about, gathering food and supplies for their homes, or out hunting for the smaller predators that lingered on the ground. On that particular day, a small squirrel was busy chipping some loose bark off his tree, preparing to climb a bit higher when a powerful gust of wind came by and nearly knocked him off his perch.
Had the cause of the wind stuck around, it would've seen the squirrel angrily chirping at it's indignance and willingness to potentially cause bodily harm to other creatures in it's haste. But Nalia was simply having too much fun right now, working on a new flying maneuver here in Nerine's forest. Although the filly had been flying for a good majority of her life, never before had she found herself in an environment that had the number of trees that Nerine did. Of course, other lands in the kingdom had a greater number, but her home provided a good enough number to use in this latest drill she was putting herself though.
Unless the trees had space to match her wingspan between them, Nalia would have great trouble flying through the forest. So, instead, she was teaching herself a different way to utilize the trees; as a sort of camoflauge, even though she still couldn't go very far beneath the top of the trees yet. Nalia performed this drill by flying above the trees to gain some momentum, then diving down, opening her wings and turning onto her side so that her wings were perpendicular to the ground and she could navigate in between the tall trees.
In some spaces, she had no room to flap her wings, so she could do nothing but tuck in her legs and let her body carry her until she could tilt herself up and try to head for the tops of the trees again. This was proving to be a difficult maneuver for her to learn, and more than once she had finished with some cuts and bruises that, when she met up with her friend, Ardashir would question her about. Then they'd have a good laugh and shake it off until Nalia went out again to work some more, thankful every time she came away with nothing more than what she had accumulated so far.
Her most recent injury was to her left front leg, a small gash from when she'd nicked the top of a tree in one of her dive attempts. It had healed well over the last two days, the skin already scabbing over to allow her fur to grow. It didn't look deep enough to leave a scar, but Nalia didn't care either way.
Still gliding at a fast pace in between the trees, Nalia saw another narrowing between the trunks coming up ahead. Preparing herself, the filly tucked her legs and got ready to throw her weight over. Within a few feet of the trees, Nalia thrust her weight to the side and opened her wings to their full size, easily cutting through the thin space between the trees and coming out clean on the other side. Pleased with her maneuver, the filly whinnied in excitement before she turned rightside again and flapped her wings to gain some height, bursting through the top of the trees and knocking some leaves and branches loose in the process.
Performing a flip in the air, Nalia let out another happy squeal before heading higher into the sky, opening her wings and allowing herself to calmly glide on the winds and look down at the expanse of Nerine below. After all the snow melted, it had taken some time for the grass to return to it's lush emerald green shading, but in time, the beauty of the lands had returned and in addition to all the new faces of the little ones, friendships were formed and restored.
The Plague was still present in the infected and those that carried it, but Nalia could still only consider herself lucky. Feeling a slight chill on her neck, Nalia became aware of the ice crystals in her mane and tail. She was sorely disappointed that she had failed in her quest at the Isicle Isle, still heavily blaming herself for her failure. She had so wanted to play more of a part in trying to find a cure for the Plague and help those that were affected, but her time was expired and she had to return home. She prayed every day for those who succeeded past the point where she failed, that they found some sort of solution, but that wouldn't become clear until the Plague disappeared.
Not noticing how she lost her momentum, the filly came back and noticed how she'd been dipping lower until she nearly hit the trees again. Tucking in her legs so she wouldn't hit the tops, she flapped her wings a little so she could comfortably stretch out her limbs and not worry about hitting the trees anymore.
Another small draft came and caught her wings, but in a different direction than the normal wind. She knew it couldn't have come from the breeze, so she looked around to see if she could figure out what did. Sure enough, she caught a small glimpse of another winged animal as it dipped below the trees, not too far from where she was, which explained why she caught the wind.
Turning, Nalia headed to investigate, circling above where the winged creature had disappeared to assess the situation. 4 horses were there, one of whom she recognized from afar as Scorch, a Nerine resident and one of her friends. The other three, she did not know them by sight, and Nalia wondered if perhaps they migrated here from Loess in the onset of the Plague. She'd heard of that happening recently, perhaps they came here for sanctuary?
Tucking her wings, Nalia headed for the group, slowing her fall a few feet away to avoid causing a large gust around the others. Once she was safely on the ground, shaking out her body and wings from the long flight, Nalia called to the others as she approached.
"Hey everyone. What're we talking about? Hi Scorch," she greeted the older mare. Nalia glanced over the others; two stallions, and a filly. One had a bright palomino coat with wings and blue markings, while the other had an appaloosa pattern and large, feathered wings like Nalia. The filly looked to be the youngest of the group, with a strawberry roan appaloosa coloring and a golden mane and tail. A brightly, uniquely colored group, but not the strangest thing Nalia had seen in these lands.
one day it's here and then it's gone,
how are you still holding on?
The first to approach them was a mare, but she could have been easily mistaken to be some sort of large rate. Titus kept that thought to himself though. Even if Nerine had been his birth home, he did not know much about those that had inhabited it. He had only been a child then, and much to that time had not been spent learning who was who within Nerine, but time had been spent playing with his twin sister and keeping close to his parents.
Except that one time, his consciousness reminds him.
He scoffs silently at himself, pushing that nasty thought away into the far corners of his mind. Instead, Titus turns to focus on the mare that first introduces herself to them. The muddy stallion’s ears flick forward, listening as she speaks to him. She is familiar with Wolfbane, which seems to be a good sign. But he does not forget that once Nerine had shared a partnership with Loess when they had been a mercenary group.
Titus allows the drake to take the lead in the conversation. Wolfbane only solidifies the relationship between him and the Nerinian mare as Wolfbane greets her with friendliness. Titus gives the mare a casual smile of warmth, but it only becomes bigger when Wolfbane introduces him attached who his newly given position. He returns a glance to Wolfbane, but his attention is quickly caught by something else.
His nutmeg eyes fall onto the foal that looks for attention from the hairless mare he has just met. It also brings a soft smile to his eyes, but it is not a fatherly one like Wolfbane’s. The young girl reminds him of his other siblings. He quickly glances to the horizon of Nerine, catching the costal land that hangs within the backyard of the kingdom. A part of him wonders if the rest of his siblings have kept living their life within Nerine while Venus and he had kept within Loess and Pampas.
Wolfbane continues the conversation, drawing his attention back to the two females in front of him. He states their intentions of visiting Nerine, opening the discussion for Titus to speak up. He opens his mouth slightly, but another one has joined them again. This time it was a winged mare that shared a spotted coat.
“Hello. I’m Titus, and this is Wolfbane,” he greets, a warm smile touching his lips slightly. “We’ve come to visit Nerine to see how you all are faring with the turn of events.” His nutmeg gaze then turns to Scorch. Something within him tells him that the hairless mare is held with esteem and respect in Nerine but the title Wolfbane had greeted her by. “I was hoping if either if you might know if my parents are still here,” he glances from the Scorch and then to Nalia and then back to Scorch. “My parents are Rome and Porcia. Are they?” He asks, forgetting the bitterness that once held his tangled emotions and thoughts together at the sound of their name. A part of him worried for what might happen, especially now that he was within Nerine.
son of rome and porcia male, classic champagne appaloosa ocelot-shifting, wings, immortality
Just as Scorch finished greeting the Loessian stallions, the sensation of a small nose brushing along her hind leg alerted her to another person entering the conversation. Craning her neck, the grizzled mare smiled to see the tiny figure of a begoldened, freckled redhead: her granddaughter, Eurwen. The girl reaffirmed their relations by boldly whispering Scorch's title with the volume of a kitten, to which Scorch nodded, a gesture of both affirmation and encouragement. Of course the mare recognized her kin; she had seen the twins from afar plenty of times, and Leilan's descriptions of them during their chance encounters also helped a lot.
"Hello, Eurwen. Come, step up beside me." Reaching, Scorch ran her mutilated nose along the filly's body, pushing her forward until the two stood side by side as equals. Then, to the Loessians: "This is my granddaughter, Eurwen. I hope you won't mind her joining us."
With that settled, Scorch settled into a hip and perked her ears attentively to what the drake had to say. He spoke as always with a friendly ease that Scorch duly admired and found herself wanting to be around, though only platonically of course. She's had enough boy drama for two lifetimes, and funnily enough, that's the exact number she has had thus far. Maybe next time, Wolfboy.
"I suspect that it is," Scorch offered with a chuckle when the drake called her presence a pleasure. Next, to the one he introduced: "A pleasure, I am sure, Titus." The classic champagne appaloosa stallion nodded and smiled in greeting, apparently saving his conversational skills for later. This Scorch did not begrudge him, as her ears caught the sound of yet another pair of approaching hooves. Comedically, Wolfbane delivered his line about not staying too long just as Nalia entered the group, to which Scorch offered him a bit of an apologetic smile before accepting the eager and dutiful Nalia's greeting.
"We are just saying hello, really. Unless Lord Wolfbane is in need of any information? I suppose it would be cordial of me to ask how Loess fares." Scorch pointed this question in the direction of the yellow pegasus, though her words had originally begun as an answer to Nalia's question. With big groups like this, everything can get a little confusing; but Scorch listened, like a good character whose time lines made sense and whose writer definitely isn't scrambling madly between posts trying to fit everything in, a pleasant and unworried smile on her face, because she's a lucky, manipulateable little pawn in my magical fake horse game.
Ahem.
Titus asked a question next, directed to all the Nerinians gathered. Scorch's prior question about Wolfbane having questions was answered herein, to which she begrudgingly smiled. However, before she could answer, the familiar-looking stallion revealed his parentage, and asked if the two yet resided in Nerine. Scorch pursed her lips in deliberation for a moment, before delivering the answer that she thought best.
"Firstly, Nerine has been... A bit chaotic, and a bit spread thin. Near the outset of the contagion, we saw the coming together of the Sisterhood and the Brotherhood. That is to say, Brennen abdicated his throne and brought what remained of his subjects here, such that we might pool our resources. That being said, we've made a vie for Icicle Isle, the North's safe land, and to my knowledge, we have thus far been successful, but it's not been easy." A heavy sigh. "Honestly, I may not even be telling you the full of it, as so much has been going on that my fragile, old woman mind can barely keep up with all this madness."
"Secondly," and here Scorch looked directly at Titus, "to my knowledge, your parents do yet live here. If they have moved away, I was not informed - I'm sorry that I haven't seen them more recently. I am a good friend of Portia's, and Rome has been a steadfast Nerinian servant for years." Hoping that that would sate the Loessian, Scorch fell silent, wondering who would be next to speak.
Scorch
Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle
@[Wolfbane] @[Titus] @[Nalia] @[Eurwen] sorry everyone for the brief fourth wall break, it has been a long night.
Also:
me, going into this post: make it 3 paragraphs, it is 2 am and you need sleep
me, half an hour later with a novel written: did you mean write a novel?
me, barely alive: hhhhhhhhhh
The small smiles she gets are encouraging, enough that the tiny kitten girl does as her grandmother now says, lining up alongside her with stolen glances around her leg to the others who have gathered. The two men are winged, and her eyes trail along their feathers, unsure if she is fascinated or scared.
Most of the words elude her, she doesn’t know of any changes because when she was born the world was like this. Parents separated by a small canal, but that’s easy enough for them (not the girls, not yet) to swim. She doesn’t know any better, simply put. But she is subconsciously aware of other foals growing up without a Papa at all, and when the younger (still huge and old) stallion talks about having been separated from his family, she peeks from under Scorch’s belly to him. Has he not grown up with either of them? How come?
But her mouth closes when others talk, and she pulls her head back to the other side of her grandmother; her wide eyes now take in yet another winged mare, though this one smells of Nerine. Curiously, she listens to Scorch introducing her to the rest. Who’s this then? Not family, but yet of Nerine? Interesting,
lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose
@[Wolfbane] omg I held this thread up for nearly 2 weeks I am SO sorry (and I am happy it’s holidays so everyone is slow, lol)
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